Korle-Bu records breakthrough

Page 3: November 11, 2008.
Story: Albert K. Salia
GHANA’S premier hospital, the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, yesterday recorded a medical breakthrough when it performed the first kidney transplant in the country.
An 11-member team from the Birmingham University Hospital, with support from Transplant Links in the United Kingdom, assisted their Ghanaian counterparts to undertake the kidney transplant on a 24-year-old male.
The 21-year-old sister of the patient donated one of her kidneys to the brother.
The harvesting of the kidney from the donor took about two hours to complete at 11:30 a.m. before the beneficiary was brought in for the transplant, which started about 2.00 p.m. and ended at 3.00 p.m.
Two more are scheduled to be done today and Wednesday.
More than 200 Ghanaians across the country need kidney transplant, many of whom have had to depend on renal dialysis to survive. A dialysis costs 100 euros per session and kidney patients require three sessions of dialysis a week.
Charity Transplant Links of the UK facilitated the trip of the British surgeons, including the internationally acclaimed Ghanaian kidney transplant specialist, Dr Dwomoa Adu, anaesthetists and nurses to collaborate with their Ghanaian counterparts, including Dr Charlotte Osafo, the Head of the Dialysis Unit at Korle-Bu, Dr Samuel Gepi-Attee, Dr Bernard Morton, Dr J. E. Mensah, Dr Matthew Kyei, all of the Urology Unit, and Dr Henry Baddoo, an anaesthetist of the hospital, among others.
Under the programme initiated by the UK charity organisation, the team would visit Ghana three times next year and continue the collaboration until a fully trained Ghanaian team is put in place within two years to undertake the transplant on its own.
The cost of each transplant is $30,000.
An elated Dr Osafo described the successful transplant as a victory for "my numerous dialysis patients and all those who have not been able to pay for the dialysis".
She said kidney transplant was the best solution to kidney problems, since dialysis was expensive and not the best way out.
She expressed the hope that people would support the Kidney Foundation to assist hundreds of Ghanaians to undertake kidney transplant.
According to her, 10 per cent of medical admissions at the hospital were attributed to renal failure, stressing that "kidney transplant is an escape from death".
Dr Osafo said a time would come when patients might not even get dialysis due to the increase in cases of kidney failure.
"I am grateful to God that this dream has become possible. It gives the team the greatest joy because this nation has lost a lot of manpower through kidney failure," she said.
Dr Osafo said to show how nation-wide the problem was, the first three patients were selected from Kumasi, Cape Coast and Accra for people to appreciate its enormity.
The head of the surgeons from the UK, Mr Andrew Ready, said the team recognised the problem in Ghana, hence the decision to kick-start the kidney transplant project.
He said the team would be visiting frequently until Korle-Bu became self-sufficient in manpower and equipment to handle cases on its own.
For her part, Dr Jennie Jewitt-Harris, who is the Head of Charity Transplant Links, said the organisation sought to bring joy to the homes of many who might otherwise lose their loved ones to kidney failure.
She said during such visits and programmes, the UK team shared experiences with and transferred skills to their local counterparts and facilitated the purchase of medical equipment to support the hospitals.
"It has been really exciting and I am happy that it has been successful. It is a dream come through, particularly the efforts of Dr Osafo and Dr Morton in putting this together," she added.